Nutrition Science and the Food Industry: An Unhealthy Combination

Given the huge role that proper nutrition plays in everything from weight loss to achieving optimum health, many Better Living Fitness clients pay close attention to nutrition-related news to find out what the latest science says about what we should (and shouldn't) be eating.

But some, and maybe a lot, of the latest science may not be trustworthy. Why? Because in part as a result of decreasing government funding, the food industry is stepping up to fund “science” in the industry's own interest.

In the 1960's, the sugar industry funded studies downplaying the role of sugar in heart disease. More recently, Coca-Cola funded scientists who claimed that a poor diet didn't really play that much of a role in obesity.

It turns out that there are lots of ways to bias scientific findings to make a food industry player look good. Just check out this recent article in Nutritionfacts.org, which among other things shows how the beef industry fed disguised beef fat to a vegetarian control group to “prove” that a plant-based diet doesn't really effect our cholesterol!

Attempts to bias scientific research aren't limited to the junk food industry. Corporations that produce foods ranging from blueberries to pomegranates, and even nuts, all fund science aimed at discovering every possible health benefit of those particular foods.

Think chocolate is a "superfood"? Think again.

This sounds like a great idea. After all, we all want to know which foods will help us achieve our specific health-related goals. The problem is that these industries fund such studies with only one goal in mind – finding any excuse to call the food they're producing the next “superfood,” so they can sell us more of that food.

Many, and probably even most, of the scientists who take funding from the food industry aren't consciously trying to trick us. But scientists need money to do their work, and no one wants to slap the wrist that writes our paycheck.

One obvious answer to this problem is to put more funds into government-sponsored nutrition research. Sadly, the Trump administration is calling for a twenty percent cut to the National Institutes of Health, which among other things funds scientific research in nutrition.

Another answer is to require all scientists to disclose their funding sources, and still another is to expect the journalists who report nutrition stories to do more digging to make sure they are giving us the facts.

In the meantime, take these steps to protect yourself from nutrition science-related misinformation:

1. Work with a dietitian or your physician. We offer nutrition counseling at the Better Living Fitness Center – just click here to schedule an appointment. Our nutrition counselors are certified dietitians with the education and experience to see through the latest food fad, and we spend time evaluating studies as they come out to learn which seem to offer the best information for our clients.

2. Subscribe to the Nutrition Action Healthletter, a publication by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food industry watchdog organization that's been doing good work in this area since 1971.

3. Be cautious when you see articles about nutrition research. Check to see who funded the study – and if the news outlet hasn't disclosed that information (and you have the time and interest), write them to ask that they do so.

**Images courtesy r. nial bradshaw and Siona Karen via Flickr